1. Field of the Invention
This application pertains to the manufacture, transport, use and installation of a variety of prefabricated boxlike components to form terrestrial, shoreline and floating structures for various purposes, including hurricane and flood pre-event mitigation and post-event recovery, national defense and homeland security.
This application also pertains to ships and methods for transporting precast concrete structures of various sizes and shapes which are suitable for installation as integrated systems to form seawalls and various shoreline reinforcement systems for limiting shoreline erosion by rivers, lakes, oceans, sounds and other major bodies of water, as well as terrestrial structures for terracing, dams, bridges, buildings, etc. The application further relates to ships which are at least partially formed of precast concrete structures, preferably structures which have hexagonal cross sections and can be assembled into honeycomb arrays to form portions of the ship hulls which have relatively high strength-to-weight ratios.
2. Summary of Relevant Art
The parent patents referred to above provide a summary of relevant prior art.
Additionally, International Publication No. WO 90/08059 (Jul. 26, 1990) discloses “Floating Concrete Modulate [sic] Platforms” assembled of hexagonal modules with stiffness walls between opposite vertex(es), joined by prestressed cables in the “enlargement spaces”. Some uses have been made of commercial metal shipping containers for terrestrial structures such as shelters, sheds, offices, workshops and the like; see, e.g. publications of SEA BOX INC. of New Jersey, recently viewed at www.seabox.com.
While many techniques have been developed for reinforcing shorelines, as described in that patent and various publications of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there is still considerable room for improvement. Applicant's company Seament Shoreline Systems, Inc. of Virginia and its subcontractors have completed several shoreline installations using the components and methods disclosed in the above patents. The Corps of Engineers publication “LOW COST SHORE PROTECTION . . . a Property Owner's Guide” discloses at page 154 the use of precast open concrete boxes filled with sand to form waterfront sills to retain perched beaches. U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,736 discloses in columns 8-9 the use of precast concrete boxes as alternatives to Double “T” units (discussed below) for constructing pier-groins extending seaward from a seawall and for use in forming underwater and near-shore) breakwaters. Columns 12-13 and FIGS. 20 to 25 discuss the use of such concrete boxes to form floating pier assemblies.
Catalogs of Admiral Marine Co. (Staten Island, N.Y., New Orleans, Oakland, Calif. and Chicago) and Peck & Hale (West Sayville, N.Y. and Kowloon, HONG KONG, PRC) disclose various metal fastening devices which could be employed to connect certain components of the present invention to form structures.
Normally, large stone rip-rap revetments, groins or breakwaters have been used for such protection. However, these methods require that a large total mass of materials be transported to the site. Such rocks are difficult to handle, cannot be interconnected or floated into place and are not easily relocatable. Furthermore, such rocks are not amenable to intermodal transport or use in a modular system.
Despite the state of the art and improvements such as those disclosed in Applicant's patents cited above, recent natural disasters and international conflicts have demonstrated the need for continuing improvements in the construction of shoreline and floating structures to protect shorelines from storms, floods and the like and to protect critical areas of national coastlines or military positions in operating areas.